Setting up sensory bins at home can seem overwhelming if you don’t know what to look for or where to start! Today, together we are going to be recreating a farm sensory bin like this one below.
Did you use to watch that show in TLC where they would take a celebrity outfit and recreate it? We will do the same but with a sensory bin!
Sensory bins are a great way to introduce new vocabulary and work on language development. It is great for fine motor skills and creativity.
Materials:
- A base- in this case, we chose split peas but you can use lentils.
- Farm animal figurines (they used white animals)
- design elements – flowers, white and different types of green Pom-poms
- Fine motor skill elements – not shown above but I always like to add some type of scoops and cups to work on transferring skills and extend the play.
Watch how I set up my farm sensory bin on Youtube
Setting up the farm Sensory Bin:
The first thing we need is to gather all of our materials. Use what you have around the house.
Prepare the base. Spread a good amount of beans or whatever you are using through out the whole bin. You can even make different areas for the different animals using different bases.
Add the farm animals and flowers. There is really no right or wrong to do this. I put the plants in the corners of the bin and the animals bin the middle for them to be the center of attention.
the last thing I added inside the bin or next to it is the bowls and scoops, in this case the wooden spoon and wooden flower pots.
It is always a good idea to prepare the play area before you let your little one play. This will make clean up easier. Lay down a towel or blanket underneath the farm sensory bin to catch any spills during play or if you don’t want to do much clean up you can set up the bin outside.
It was a beautiful day, so we opted out this time to set it up outside.
Add language Development opportunities
Sensory play is a learning experience as it is but I always like to add extra learning elements and activities to extend the play.
I added the farm flashcards for animal sounds to our bin from our language development interactive learning book. and practice as we play. Learning animal sounds and names is one of the best basis for language development.
So making a farm sensory bin is that easy! Now take photos and enjoy bonding with your little one. Remember to always supervised play for any choking hazards.
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